Apron String Low- Thomas Jones (Hamp) 1907 Gardiner/Guyer
[My title. Single stanza with music from George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/13/827). A second stanza appears on the text sheet.
R. Matteson 2017]
Apron String Low- sung by Thomas Jones, Portsmouth Workhouse, Hampshire on 12 August, 1907. Collectors: G.B. Gardiner, John F. Guyer,
When once I wore my apron string low,
My love followed me through frost and snow,
But now I wear them up under my chin,
My love he passed by and says nothing.
* * * *
Away to the meadow this fair girl run,
And then plucked flowers just as they sprung,
She picked and plucked of every sort,
Till at length this poor girl she broke her heart[1].
------------------
1. The last lines, borrowed from Oxfordshire Tragedy, should be:
Of every sort she there did pull,
until she got her apron full.
then the last two lines are:
She laid her down, and nothing spoke:
alas! for love her heart was broke.